Reports: Israel gives March 15 deadline, Hochstein drops Hezbollah withdrawal demand
Israel has informed Western countries that it has set a “March 15 deadline for reaching a political settlement with Lebanon” after which it would “escalate military operations to a broad war,” Western diplomats told al-Akhbar newspaper.
Diplomats meanwhile told the Nidaa al-Watan daily that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein “has backed down from the condition of Hezbollah’s withdrawal” from the border region, and that “he is no longer mentioning this matter in his meetings.”
“His entire demand has become a ceasefire with guarantees from both parties,” the diplomats said.
A diplomatic source meanwhile told the newspaper that “Hochstein’s visit to Beirut did not only aim to ‘defuse the bomb’, but rather included “a follow-up mechanism that was agreed on with the official sides, to pave the way for readiness on the ground when a temporary ceasefire gets declared in Gaza.”
The Gaza truce “is supposed to apply to Lebanon through kickstarting negotiations over the implementation of U.N. resolution 1701 with all its stipulations,” the source added.
The source also revealed that Hochstein has “formed a U.S. work group led by U.S. Ambassador Lisa Johnson that will hold meetings at the embassy and devise a political paper for implementing Resolution 1701.”
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